Network Slicing Cybersecurity Patents: Who Leads, Where Gaps Are 2026
- Filings peaked in 2017 at 43 records and have declined since, with the 2022 midpoint at 19 — a maturing rather than accelerating field.
- No tracked assignee filed in the latest year including Huawei, Qualcomm, Nokia, Verizon and NEC, all showing zero recent-year momentum in this dataset.
- H04W and H04L dominate the IPC mix at 144 and 101 records respectively, while AI-based slice security (G06N) appears in only 2 records.
Filing growth compares 2021 (31 records) with 2024 (11) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 178 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the patent record shows about network slicing security
Network slicing cybersecurity sits at the intersection of two IPC clusters: H04W wireless network architecture and H04L digital transmission security. Of 178 patent families captured under this search, 144 touch wireless network slicing structures directly and 101 overlap with transmission-layer security mechanisms — a strong signal that most claims are being written as extensions of existing slicing architecture patents rather than as a distinct security discipline. Filing activity peaked in 2017 and has not returned to that level since, with the 2022 midpoint sitting at 19 records, well below half the peak.
Publication normally lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent one or two years in any trend undercount true filing activity. Even allowing for that lag, the recent-year momentum data — zero new filings in the latest year across every assignee tracked, including the largest telecom equipment vendors — points to a field where the core architectural claims were staked out early and filing has since slowed rather than accelerated.
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Filing trend and technology composition
The two views below cover the same 178 families from different angles: one tracks filing volume by year, the other breaks the corpus down by IPC subclass to show where slicing-security claims are actually being written.
Peak filing year: 2017, then decline
Filings ran at 43 in 2017, the peak of the series, dropped toward a 2022 midpoint of 19, and the most recent tracked year shows 0 — read that final point as partial and lagging, not as the field going silent.
H04W and H04L carry the corpus
H04W (wireless communication networks) appears in 144 records and H04L (digital information transmission) in 101, meaning most families are tagged to both — a slicing architecture claim layered with a transmission-security claim. G06F appears in 15 records, and AI-based approaches (G06N) and video-pictorial applications (H04N) each appear only twice, with G06Q and G16B at a single record apiece.
Shares are the percentage of the 178 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Network Slicing Cybersecurity with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about network slicing cybersecurity and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records and a representative claim
US20190141081A1 — Method of enabling slice security separation
A mobile network system comprises a security device and a network device. The security device stores slice security requirements which differ for each slice ID. The network device transmits a Slice Security Request including the slice ID and receives, in response, the security requirements tied to that slice — then selects a security algorithm for the network slice based on those requirements.Filed by NEC Corporation, published 2019-05-09.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20180041425A1 | Service-based traffic forwarding in virtual networks | 220 |
| 2 | US20190124561A1 | Mechanism to enable interworking between network slicing and evolved packet core connectivity | 180 |
| 3 | US20180077023A1 | Method and apparatus for network slicing | 112 |
| 4 | US20180077024A1 | Method and apparatus for network slicing | 98 |
| 5 | US20220141192A1 | System and Methods for Path-Aware and Path-Assured Secure Virtual Private Lines and Secure Network Slices usi… | 43 |
| 6 | US20190141081A1 | Method of enabling slice security separation | 35 |
| 7 | US11528147B2 | Verifying integrity and secure operations of cloud-based software services | 33 |
| 8 | WO2018075930A1 | Determining and communicating security posture attributes | 33 |
| 9 | US20180041994A1 | End point to edge node interaction in wireless communication networks | 29 |
| 10 | WO2019078964A1 | A mechanism to enable interworking between network slicing and evolved packet core connectivity | 26 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations — treat this table as a map of influence on later filings, not a ranking of current relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the filing trend and IPC composition are set side by side: an early filing peak that never returned, a technology mix still anchored in conventional network architecture, and a citation record dominated by older foundational slicing patents rather than security-specific ones.
The peak has passed, not arrived
2017's 43 filings remain the high point of this dataset. The 2022 midpoint of 19 confirms a downward trend rather than a temporary dip, even after allowing for publication lag on the last one or two years.
Security is still architecture-led, not AI-led
Wireless network architecture (H04W) and transmission security (H04L) carry the overwhelming majority of records. AI-based approaches to slice threat detection sit at just 2 records, suggesting claim space there is largely open.
Foundational slicing patents outrank security-specific ones
The most-cited record in this corpus, US20180041425A1, covers service-based traffic forwarding rather than security controls directly — later slice-security filings build on general slicing architecture rather than displacing it.
No leader is currently active in the tracked window
Huawei, Qualcomm, Nokia, Verizon and NEC all show zero filings in the latest tracked year. Combined with the overall filing decline, this points to a period of claim consolidation rather than expansion.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to network slicing cybersecurity, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claims
Assignee activity in this corpus is concentrated among a small group of telecom equipment and infrastructure vendors, with Nokia appearing under three related entity names that co-file together — a sign of internal group filing rather than external collaboration.
Nokia's filing is split across entities
The strongest co-assignee pairs in this dataset all link Nokia Technologies, Nokia Solutions and Networks, and Nokia Shanghai Communications, each pairing appearing 6 times — internal group co-filing rather than cross-company collaboration.
Every tracked leader has gone quiet recently
Huawei, Qualcomm, Nokia, Verizon, NEC and independent filer Zhang Hang all show zero filings in the latest tracked year, consistent with the broader decline visible in the filing trend since 2017.
Filing is US- and EPO-centred, with China and India as secondary markets
The United States receives the largest share of filings at 70, followed by the European Patent Office at 43 and WIPO/PCT at 23. India (13), China (9) and Germany (8) form a secondary tier.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 0 | — |
| Nokia Technologies Oy | 0 | — |
| Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc. | 0 | — |
| NEC Corporation | 0 | — |
| ZHANG HANG | 0 | — |
| T MOBILE INNOVATIONS LLC | 0 | — |
| Lenovo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The filing trend and IPC composition point to a field where the architectural groundwork is largely claimed and security-specific extensions — particularly AI-based ones — remain comparatively open.
Check freedom-to-operate on foundational slicing claims
The most-cited records in this corpus cover general slicing architecture, not security mechanisms specifically. Any new security claim built on top of slice identification or traffic forwarding should be checked against those foundational filings first.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in Eureka →Explore the AI-based slice security gap
With only 2 records tagged to G06N, AI-driven approaches to slice threat detection and anomaly response are thin relative to the rest of the corpus. This is the most identifiable under-claimed branch in the dataset.
Explore this white space in Eureka →Common questions about network slicing cybersecurity patents
It refers to patent filings that combine 5G/RAN network slicing architecture with security mechanisms specific to isolating, authenticating or protecting individual slices. In this dataset, most records are tagged to both H04W (wireless network architecture) and H04L (digital transmission security), meaning the majority of filings extend general slicing patents with a security-specific claim rather than treating slice security as a standalone invention category. The representative record, US20190141081A1 from NEC, illustrates this pattern by tying a security algorithm selection directly to a slice ID.
The tracked assignees in this corpus include major telecom equipment and infrastructure vendors such as Huawei, Qualcomm, Nokia (filing under three related entity names), Verizon, and NEC. Nokia's three entities show the strongest co-assignee links in the dataset, each pairing appearing 6 times, which reflects internal group filing rather than joint development with outside partners. Notably, none of these leading assignees show any filings in the most recent tracked year, though publication lag means the last year or two is always undercounted.
No — the evidence points to a peak already passed. Filings hit 43 in 2017, the high point of the series, fell to a midpoint of 19 by 2022, and the most recent tracked year shows no filings across the leading assignees. Some of that recent drop-off is publication lag rather than a genuine stop, but the multi-year decline from 2017 to 2022 is too large to explain by lag alone, and points to a field where core claims were staked out early.
The clearest gap is AI-based approaches to slice security: only 2 of 178 records fall under G06N (computing based on AI models), compared with 144 under general wireless network architecture. Related under-claimed areas include dynamic slice security policy negotiation, cross-slice isolation breach containment, and slice-aware zero-trust authentication — sub-areas that appear in the broader search but are not concentrated in any single assignee's portfolio. These are worth a closer freedom-to-operate look before committing to claim language.
US20190141081A1, filed by NEC Corporation and published 2019-05-09, is the representative record for slice security separation in this dataset. It describes a security device that stores slice-specific security requirements and a network device that requests and receives those requirements by slice ID before selecting an appropriate security algorithm. Anyone building a slice-ID-driven security selection mechanism should review this filing and its citing records before finalising claim scope.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.